Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 10 - El último sueño de Frida y Diego

23 | Lyric Opera of Chicago Artist profiles GABRIELA LENA FRANK COMPOSER Lyric debut In 2025, Frank concluded a long-term residency with the Philadelphia Orchestra, marked by the world premiere of Picaflor: A Future Myth , and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. El último sueño de Frida y Diego , her first opera, will appear also this season at the Metropolitan Opera. It was produced at LA Opera, Omaha Opera, and San Francisco Opera following its 2022 world premiere at San Diego Opera. Other upcoming premieres include a song cycle for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and a work for the Pacifica Quartet and narrator Sigourney Weaver. Winner of a Latin Grammy and nominated for Grammys as both composer and pianist, Frank also holds a Guggenheim Fellowship and a USA Artist Fellowship. She has received commissions and performances from leading American orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony. Her work has been commissioned by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, soprano Dawn Upshaw, the King’s Singers, the Cuarteto Latinoamericano with guitarist Manuel Barrueco, and Brooklyn Rider, among others. This year, NAXOS will release a recording of her and librettist Nilo Cruz’s oratorio Conquest Requiem , featuring the Nashville Symphony and conductor Giancarlo Guerrero. In 2017, she founded the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music (GLFCAM), which helps composers of any aesthetic and demographic, from emerging through mid-career levels, to develop self-determined 21st century lives. Gabriela Lena Frank is sponsored by Lori Julian for the Julian Family Foundation. NILO CRUZ LIBRETTIST Previously at Lyric: Bel Canto (2015/16). The Cuban-American writer first rose to prominence in 2003 when he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Anna in the Tropics , which also earned the Steinberg Award and a Tony Award nomination. Cruz’s works have been widely produced across the United States and internationally. He is a longtime collaborator with composer Gabriela Lena Frank, and along with El último sueño de Frida y Diego , their works include Conquest Requiem , commissioned by the Houston Symphony; Santos , an oratorio commissioned by the San Francisco Girls Chorus and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra; and La centinela y la paloma ( The Keeper and the Dove ), a song cycle commissioned by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and premiered by soprano Dawn Upshaw. They also collaborated on Las Cinco Lunas de Lorca ( The Five Moons of Lorca ), an orchestral song commissioned by LA Opera; and Journey of the Shadow , a dramatic work for narrator and musicians, commissioned by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. Cruz adapted Ann Patchett’s novel Bel Canto for Lyric, working with Peruvian composer Jimmy López. He has been an artist-in- residence at the Public Theater, McCarter Theatre, New Theatre in Coral Gables, and at UCLA through a Hearst Foundation grant. DANIELA MACK FRIDA Previously at Lyric: Angela Rose/ The Listeners (2024/25) and Kitchen Boy/ Rusalka (2013/14). This season, the Argentine mezzo-soprano sings Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at Houston Grand Opera and Opera Omaha and, in concert, returns to San Francisco Opera in a program of Beethoven and Falla. Last season, Mack returned to both the Metropolitan Opera and LA Opera as Federico García Lorca in the new production of Ainadamar , appeared with San Francisco Opera as Idamante in Idomeneo , and made her house debut at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma as Orsini in Lucrezia Borgia . Other recent highlights include her Metropolitan Opera debut as the Kitchen Boy in Rusalka , Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Royal Ballet and Opera, Rosmira in Partenope at Teatro Real, Romeo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi at Teatro de la Maestranza, Béatrice in Béatrice et Bénédict with the BBC Philharmonic, and a performance of Serse with The English Concert at Carnegie Hall. Recent engagements include performances with Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera, Minnesota Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, English National Opera, Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Ópera de Oviedo, Opéra National de Bordeaux, and the Verbier Festival. Mack’s extensive repertoire includes the title role in Carmen , Charlotte in Werther , Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri , and Dorabella in Così fan tutte . STEPHANIE SÁNCHEZ FRIDA (April 1) Previously at Lyric: Three roles since 2022/23, most recently Mrs. Moreno/ The Listeners (2024/25) and Passenger 3/ Proximity (2022/23). The mezzo-soprano’s 2025/26 Season includes Carlotta de Obragón in Zorro with Arizona Opera and alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Apollo Chorus of Chicago. Recent highlights include Mary in Der fliegende Holländer and the Owl in The Cunning Little Vixen with Des Moines Metro Opera; Phoenix Symphony for Messiah ; Seattle Opera as Yesi in the workshop of Stomping Grounds ; the Witch in Hänsel und Gretel with Kentucky Opera; Mesías [Spanish Messiah ] with the Phoenix Symphony; Nettie Fowler in Carousel and Maddalena in Rigoletto with Opera Montana; Opera Omaha as Frida in El último sueño de Frida y Diego ; Newport Music Festival as the titular Carmen ; and West Edge Opera as Flosshilde/Fricka/ Erda in Der Ring in einem Abend . Additional debuts include